The Red Sox struggled mightily in 2019 due to a lack of performance from players. To get back to the playoffs, these five individual stats need to improve.
The 2019 Boston Red Sox were coming off of one of the best seasons in baseball history – the best Spring Training record (22-9), best regular-season record (108-54), and the best postseason record (11-3) – en route to the World Series. Then 2019 happened and all of those accolades went out the window.
There was destined to be some regression, perhaps five fewer wins in 2019. The Red Sox and Yankees were seen as the favorites to win the division, many siding with Boston after the dominant 2018. Anyone who bet a substantial amount of money on the Red Sox 2019 success are surely not happy now.
Instead of a five-game regression, the Red Sox won 24, yes 24, fewer games in 2019. The strange part of the 2019 struggles was that the roster didn’t really change.
Yes, Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly exposed the Red Sox bullpen, but other than that the team was the exact same. The same starting rotation, same lineup, same bullpen (except for Kimbrel and Kelly).
Because the roster didn’t change much from season to season, it shows that players regressed a large amount from 2018 to 2019. If Boston has any chance of snagging a Wild Card in 2020, players need to improve or go back to their 2018 form.
With that in mind, let’s go over five individual player’s stats that need to improve in 2020.